Blogging?

Cafe Society
1

Hmmm.

I went to http://toolbar.google.com/install-beta

It seems to be some sort of Journal.

To install their new IE (doesn’t say Netscape is supported) toolbar with popup blocking & spam controls & it has a cute little orange button on the new toolbar & I clicked on it & it’s for blogging, as it says:

“New to Blogging?
Blogger is a web-based tool that helps you publish to your own web site instantly. The BlogThis! button on the Google Toolbar makes it even easier – One click and you can quickly share your thoughts with the world.”

Also a link to www.blogging.com
“Welcome to Blogging.com. We make it easy to get your blog on!”

“You make posts to your blog by submitting a simple form on the Blogger web site (or using the BlogThis! button on the Google toolbar) and the results immediately show up on your site, with your design.”
So, is anyone blogging yet?

2

Blogging is a pretty generic term for a weblog.
It covers most all online journals, diarys, etc.
There are various “content management systems” that are set p as “blogging sites” or what have you. Some people update manually however. I use blogger.com and camblog.
LiveJournal would be (imho) a form of blog, but I am sure others might dissagree.

3

Lots of people are blogging now.

I consider there to be a difference between Blogging and journaling (as in the case of LiveJournal, OpenDiary, etc). Blogging seems more casual; you don’t necessarily go in-depth into your own life, you post jokes, links, and little anecdotes that readers will find funny. Journaling takes you more in-depth to the author themselves, often updated daily, with information about their lives.

I have an OpenDiary, but it’s only accessable to other OpenDiary users (sorry).

4

Considering the fact that it appears, per bibliophage, that the sword of Damocles hangs over my head I really should be careful in phrasing this question to you since heaven knows what would be considered inflammatory or against the TOS.
What’s the point of having an online journal if only the people in your journalling community can read it?
It’s sad enough that places like Livejournal have “friends-only” posts but in certain cases I would assume it’s appropriate. For the grace of God they go.
The whole idea of blogging is about putting yourself out there, whether you are being honest about yourself or not, for the entire world even though .001% will take notice. If you don’t want to write about a subject or feel only a certain audience will understand then don’t write about it at all and keep it in that little diary under your bed that nobody but your stereotypical meddling little brother knows about.
Yet if one deems to put it on the web then make it public because such things once exposed to the light of day will wither and die by being ignored or getting some manner of validation of “hey, the same stuff happens/happened to me too”.

5

Jeez, Raisinbread. For your information, there is a really personal reason why I keep my diary visible only to Open Diary members. If you really want to hear the whole story, then here it is.

A while ago I was on the free version of Open Diary (at Free Open Diary). At the time, I had a friend, whom I’ll call “Andrew.” He knew my diary’s username, which wasn’t a big deal when we were friends.

Then he went a little crazy, trying to stalk me and emotionally abusing me every chance he got; naturally, I ended the friendship. Now, on the free version, you can set your preferences to No Notes*, meaning no one can leave a note, All Notes, meaning anyone with a diary or not can leave notes, or another preference which I can’t recall the name of right now, in which only people with a diary can LEAVE you notes, but ANYONE can see it.

I set mine to the third option. It didn’t work. Andrew made a diary himself so that he could leave me notes.

And so I moved to the pay version of Open Diary, where I was forced to put my preferences on a new option, wherein nobody but Open Diary users can see it and leave notes. If I left it open for anyone to see and note, he would continue to leave me inflammatory, abusive comments, and I quite simply am not going to deal with that right now.

So, I’m sorry if I am messing up your vision of an online journal, and you think I should just stick to writing paper diaries. Quite honestly, I don’t really care what you think on this particular matter. I like the community of OD users and I like not having Andrew attacking me in every entry that I write.

If anyone is using OD and wants to look at my diary, my username is Meridian.

*Notes are little comments on a diary’s entry that, when added by another user, are seen on the entry page itself.

6

Sir and/or Madam,
It was not a personal attack. Have a Coke and a smile.
Jeez.

7

There seem to be both varieties of blogs around, diaries and blogs that just have funny links. Strangely, people seem to do exclusively one or the other. I always wondered about that as I use my blog (on Blogger) for both, depending on my mood - sometimes you just don’t feel like sharing the day’s events.

It has wreaked havoc on my social life (well, somewhat) as my friends tend to read the blog and when you try to tell them a story you just get to hear: “Oh, I already read that on your blog.”

But all in all I’m having fun with mine. There even is a stock market for blogs, by the way…

8

Raisinbread, this isn’t the Pit, so I’ll try to be calm (I’m never in the Pit, anyway). I know that you were not personally attacking me, but when I post that my diary is private and you post a diatribe against private diaries TO ME, it’s difficult not to respond personally. Nearly everyone with a private diary that I have spoken to on OD and elsewhere has a legitimate reason for its private state. Don’t laugh at me because I responded to a personal question personally, please.